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NBN Co, Telstra try to settle $200m CPI fight out of court

Hearings called off.

NBN Co and Telstra are attempting to resolve a disagreement over how much NBN Co should pay for access to Telstra’s pits, pipes, ducts and exchanges out of court.

Last July Telstra won its case against NBN Co over when the consumer price index (CPI) for payments covered by the pair’s 2011, $9 billion definitive agreements should kick in.

It had taken NBN Co to the NSW Supreme Court in late 2013, arguing that the CPI, which is refreshed each year in January, should apply for payments effective from January 1 2012, given that the NBN Co contract was signed in 2011.

But NBN Co appealed the decision in August, saying that the CPI should apply from January 1 2013 given the Australian Consumer and Competition Watchdog-approved structural separation undertaking commenced in March 2012.

The difference in CPI calculations is valued at around $200 million.

The pair were due to appear in court this week as part of NBN Co's appeal suit.

But a Telstra spokesperson confirmed to iTnews yesterday the hearings had not gone ahead.

"The parties are negotiating to finalise an acceptable commercial resolution in relation to the historical contractual interpretation of the original definitive agreements," the spokesperson said.

She was not able to give a timeframe for resolution of the disagreement.

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